Things are really springing into life on the plot. The few days of lovely weather was the trigger the plants were waiting for. It also spurred us into action. Grass paths have been mowed for the first time this year and the permanently planted fruit beds have been tidied. Lavender has been moved to form [...]

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M. wilsonii If I could only use one species in my garden, I would gladly fill it with magnolias. They are the most beautiful, the most majestic and the most elegant trees. It isn’t just those enormous goblet-shaped flowers that stop me in my tracks every single time, but the huge leaves and the beautiful [...]

I don’t know who it was who called Erythronium the ‘dog’s-tooth violet’, but quite frankly, they must have been terribly confused. While violets are delicate, dainty, and tiny, Erythroniums are fabulous and showy. True, they like to hang out in the same shady, moist, humus-rich parts of the garden, but that’s where the similarity ends. [...]

This isn’t just a plant to love: it’s a plant to cheer you up. Forget all the pinky-and-perky pastels of spring: big pincushion sprays of Kerria japonica ‘Pleniflora’ are the way forward. ——————————————————————————————————————————- Fennel & Fern readers can get 10% off on flower, vegetable and fruit seeds and plants at Victoriana Nurseries. Just click here to claim [...]

I have adored every single episode so far in Alys Fowler’s The Edible Garden. It has just the sort of happy, floating-about-in-the-garden feeling that I really love, and as well as making me very happy, it has inspired me with some quirky recipes and ideas. One of the recipes that caught my eye in the [...]

It is desperately important to encourage wildlife into your garden. Not only is it good for fighting nasty pests, but it is also giving back a few of the habitats we have destroyed with our big fat cars, houses and roads. It’s a way of saying thank you to nature. This year is the International [...]

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Image by Steve Minor I defy anyone to tell you that vegetables look boring. This bunch of crops are tasty and striking, and far better looking than a lot of purely ornamental plants. When I was writing a post for the Guardian gardening blog on good-looking veg, I came across so many incredible crops: patterned, [...]

I’ve fallen head over heels in love with this plant. In mid-spring each year I fall for it again. I’m not being terribly careless: these gorgeous tiffany-lamp blooms are perfect. Yes, I know it looks a bit like a snowdrop, but come April, we’re a bit beyond snowdrops, aren’t we? We need something a little [...]

This beautiful ceramic tableware from Julia Davey. You might not be able to grow anything in these beautiful hand-made, hand-fired products, but this milk jug and matching cup-and-saucer will look fabulous on the table next to luscious servings of your homegrown crops. Julia is a fabulous ceramic artist, and if you’re in love with her [...]

I don’t normally feel this Pollyanna-ish about weeding. But when dozens of little raspberry suckers pop up in my veg patch and ask to be pulled up, I can’t help but look on the bright side. Raspberries propagate themselves by sending up suckers from their shallow root systems. ——————————————————————————————————————————- Fennel & Fern readers can get [...]